Partners for a Broad Engagement in Change.
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It’s impossible to talk about the evangelical tradition in the United States without mentioning its shaping European forces. The movement arose from the direct influence of English Puritanism, Continental Pietism, and High Church Anglican traditions of rigorous and innovative organization. When evangelicalism appeared upon the American scene in the eighteenth century, it did so as part of interconnected revival movements that developed in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Britain’s North American colonies. What was known in Britain as the Evangelical Revival was called the Great Awakening in North America, and birthed a religious movement that now claims nearly one quarter of the American population.
John and Charles Wesley, George Whitfield, and John Bunyan were all European and all central to the American evangelical story. European influences touched not only our theology, but also our social action, which was inspired and informed by leaders like William Wilberforce and William Booth. The influence of these leaders, and the homegrown American leaders they motivated, soon made evangelicalism a staple of American life and a central moral compass in our struggles for abolition, temperance, and women’s rights. Undoubtedly, evangelicals continue to influence one another across the Atlantic. American evangelicals admire C.S. Lewis, John Stott, and N.T. Wright, while Europeans are very familiar with the likes of Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Philip Yancey and Tim LaHaye.
Yet somewhere along the way, the serious, collaborative evangelical connection with Europe weakened. In many respects, Europeans have understood the term ‘evangelical’ somewhat differently from the way it was understood in the States. While ‘evangelical’ is often used in Europe as a synonym for Protestant, in the States it took on a narrower connotation for a Protestant subsection that held strongly to the authority of scripture, the centrality of Jesus Christ and the need for personal conversion. Beyond theological nuances, however, perhaps the growing tendency to equate evangelicalism with a conservative social and political agenda was what most distinguished the American movement from its European counterpart.
The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), the primary evangelical organizing body in the States, is a member of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), which includes the Evangelical Alliance UK and other national coalitions throughout Europe and the rest of world. But beyond cursory cooperative efforts within this worldwide alliance, and the outreach of individual churches, there has been little recent formal cooperation between what seem to be natural allies.
Nevertheless, there is hope for trans-Atlantic evangelical collaboration. The face of evangelicalism in the States and in Europe is changing in at least two ways which may help lay the foundation for renewed cooperative efforts.
First, evangelicals in the States are reconsidering their own identity. For the past several decades the typical American evangelical has focused largely on personal growth in their theology and conservative action in their politics. But today the tide is turning, and evangelicalism is reclaiming a heritage of broad engagement. In 2004, the NAE issued a landmark document, For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility, summoning evangelicals to social engagement across a broad spectrum of issues, as embodied by our evangelical forefathers. The document, signed by the full spectrum of American evangelical leadership, calls for action on issues ranging from protecting the sanctity of life and nurturing family life, to caring for creation, seeking justice for the poor, and protecting religious freedom, among others.
For many of our evangelical brethren in Europe, for whom a broad array of issues has long been a priority, these changes are good news. The past association of the term ‘evangelical’ with conservative politics tainted the term for Europeans who were uncomfortable with a title that too often implied Republicanism, unilateralism, and a narrow focus on ‘family issues’. There is evidence, beyond the formal NAE document, that those stereotypes are falling by the wayside. For example, recent polling by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that American evangelicals are far more open to multilateralism (75% of evangelical respondents) than stereotypes portray. And evangelicals are raising their voices on issues ranging from sex trafficking, to climate change, and the genocide in Darfur, leading a New York Times columnist to dub them the ‘new internationalists’.
Secondly, churches on both sides of the Atlantic are facing a worldwide demographic shift in global Christianity. As Philip Jenkins outlines in The Next Christendom, the demographic center of Christianity is moving from north to south. Soon, Christians in the south will far outnumber their brethren in both Europe and North America. This shift is also creating new realities close to home. In the States, minority groups, particularly Hispanics, are a major source of church growth, while Africans and Asians have started sending missionaries to North America. Similarly, in Europe the most significant church growth is found in ethnic minority churches, where African, Asian and other ethnic groups are laying a new foundation for the evangelical movement.
Evangelicals in Europe and the States find themselves in a unique moment, as they both learn to navigate rapidly changing church demographics, while simultaneously coming to see the biblical mandate for engagement in similar ways. The confluence of these shifts may serve as a springboard for cooperative efforts. Europeans and Americans can jointly apply a shared broad agenda (from human rights and care for the poor, to peace, religious freedom and beyond) in service to the growing church in the global south and ethnic minority churches in their own backyards.
Partnerships in service are already developing, as young evangelicals from the States are not heading to Europe for vacation, but instead are joining young Europeans in going to the farthest corners of the earth to put feet to their convictions about AIDS, trafficking, poverty, peace and the environment. And leaders on both continents have thrown their support behind collaborative campaigns like the Micah Challenge, which aims to end poverty worldwide. Additionally, leaders on both sides of the Atlantic are looking to one another for guidance in these times of change. Young evangelical pastors and activists from the States, like Shane Claiborne, Rob Bell, and Mark Driscoll are learning from and helping equip their counterparts in Europe, while Willow Creek Church has hosted European versions of their leadership conference.
Granted, sustained cooperation won’t be easy. The American evangelical subculture is strong and independent, and it may be challenging to convince evangelicals of the need to cooperate with their European brethren. Yet if evangelicals can come together across the Atlantic, they will avoid duplication of efforts, strengthen the churches and the communities they serve, and offer faithful examples of God’s healing presence to the poor, the oppressed and the vulnerable around the world.
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